Double Osprey

I walked out from home today on my usual route: from home towards Woodbury down Exe View Road, past St. Peter's School playing fields, down to Lympstone along the estuary before heading back towards home.

It was lightly raining, and several Chiffchaff, five in total for the afternoon, were calling in the oak trees along Exe View Road. One very green/yellow Willow Warbler was also feeding in an Oak, but it proved difficult to photograph.

There were 200+ House Martins and Swallows above the field just past Wotton Brook. This area always looks like a really good one, but I've yet to see anything unusual.

Three Kestrel, one adult and two young birds, were in the area. As it was raining, they were perched up obscured by leaves, and I only saw them in flights between trees as they were hassled by Jackdaws.

A Whitethroat was in the hedge by St. Peter's School playing fields, and I could hear a Skylark calling in the field behind it (there are usually several here).

On reaching Lympstone beach, a group of 10+ Black Tailed Godwit were feeding between the gull flock.

I headed south along the estuary's side. An eruption of gulls and waders told me an Osprey was about, and I located the bird high above the middle of the estuary, heading towards The Warren.

A few minutes later, another commotion in the opposite direction brought my attention to another bird fishing off Lympstone, frustratingly where I had been 15 minutes before!

After three attempts, the bird caught a fish and headed over the estuary toward Powderham.

The estuary seemed to be holding quite a lot of birds, and there was lots of water out on the sandbanks. There was a flock of Mallard (40+), Teal (20+), and Pintail (12+) on the estuary by Lympstone Manor.

It was good to see Matt Knott this afternoon and catching up on bird and family news.